Portable fence



(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. (LURE. PORTABLE FENCE.

,217. Patented Dec. 20, 1892.

[Iii III THE nonms vmzns co, PHOTO-LYING wnsnmm'ou. n. c.

(No Model J. ORR.

PORTABLE FENCE. I N0. 488,217. Patented D60. 20, 1-892,

UNirnn STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

JONATHAN GIBSON ORR, OF DANVILLE, ALABAMA.

PORTABLE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 488,217, dated December20, 1892.

Application filed October 16, 1891- Serial No. 408,890. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JONATHAN GIBSON ORR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Danville, in the county of Morgan and State of Alabama, haveinvented a new and useful Portable Fence, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to fences, and more especially to that classthereof known as portable fences; and the object of the same is toimprove the details thereof as well as to construct a fence which can bemade of pieces that would be unavailable for building an ordinary fence.

To these ends the invention consists inrthe various constructionshereinafter more fully described and claimed and as illustrated on thetwo accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspectiveview showing one suspended and one rigid panel of this improved fence.Fig. 2 is an elevation of one form of wire tightener, showing also asupplemental post. Fig. 3 is an elevation of another form of wiretighten er. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of a post, showing twoextension-members that are not adapted to tighten the wire. Fig. 5 is anelevation showing the crossed extension-members. Fig. 6 is an enlargedperspective view showing the manner of connecting the twist wire withthe supporting wire. Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the manner ofsecuring the lower end of this twist wire. Fig.8 is an elevation of apost, showing another form of the brackets. Fig. 9 is an elevationshowing a single exten sion. Fig. 10 is a perspective detail of one ofthe posts of greater length than that generally used. Fig. 11 is adetail of the connecting pin.

This improved fence consists essentially of rigid panels R having postsP at their ends, wires preferably strung along the tops of the posts orconnecting extensions E rising above said posts, means for tighteningsaid wires, and suspended panels S preferably arranged so as toalternate with the rigid panels. When desired to move the fence, thewires are disconnected and rolled up (with the extensions if such areused), and the rigid panels and suspended panels may be piled with thecoil of wire onto a wagon or other conveyance, moved to the pointdesired, and again set up. To effect this portability of the fence,means are provided for rendering the extensions detachable from theposts and the suspended panels detachable from the supporting wire andcapable of being disconnected from the posts-all as will hereinaftermore fully appear.

Referring to the drawings, the posts P are preferably of flat timber,such as heavy boards or planks, and are slightly embedded in the groundas seen at 1 in Fig. 2, rest upon stones as seen at 2, or are mountedupon sills 3, in which latter case they have tenons 4 taking intosockets in the sills, andinclined braces 5 connect the rear ends of thesills with the backs of the posts being preferably secured by nails 6 orother detachable means. The posts may be made of short stock unsuitablefor other work, in which case it becomes desirable to provide wiressupported above the posts in order to make the fence of the requiredheight, but when possible the post is continued for the usual length asseen in dotted lines at 7 in Fig. 1. The posts are connected in pairs byboards 8 which may be nailed to them as seen in this figure so as toform the rigid panels; or these boards maybe nailed at their centers-toa single post as seen in Figs. 5 and 9, in which case a supplementalpost P becomes necessary in order to hold the ends of the several boards8 properly spaced. Such supplemental post may be of very light materialand may rest upon or stand slightly above the ground. 9, 9 are stakes orplugs which may be driven in the ground adjacent the posts when thelatter rest on stones 2 or at either or both sides of the .lowerrail orrails, so as to prevent the fence from being moved; and the tenon 4 maybe continued through the sill 3, and a pin driven through with'it asseen at 4' in Fig. 1, for the purpose of keeping said sill in positionand fastening the tenon thereto.

The extensions E for increasing the height of the fence may be of othershort stock too light to serve as posts but sufliciently strong tosupport the wires. In Fig. 9 the extension is simply interwoven betweencertain rails of a panel to one of which it is secured by a nail orWooden pin 10, its upper end extending above the post and supporting onewire as seen in full lines ora plurality of wires as indicated in dottedlines. In Fig. 2 two such extensions are shown, and the wire 11 insteadof passing between nails 12 or in other manner past the extension, isdivided and secured as at 13 to the two extensions. But the tension ofthis wire when so attached would draw the extensions apart, and hence Iprovide a loop 14 embracing the upper ends of the extensions, and drivewedges 15 into the loopends outside the extensions when it is desired totighten the wire.

In Fig. 3 the extensions are notonly secured as at 10 to a lower rail asin the other figures, but are also connected as at 10 to an upper railor to cleats 16 (hereinafter described), the wire or Wires 11 areconnected to the upper ends of the extensions, and the wedges are drivenbetween their lower ends and the posts so as to resist strain on thesaid extensions and to hold the wires taut but without the necessity forthe loops 14.

At the left side of this figure the extension E is secured at two points10 and 10' and hence is not capable of being operated to tighten thewire.

In Fig. 5 I show the extensions E as crossed as at 17 above the post,resting as at 18 011 the corners of the post astride of the wire 11,passing down on opposite sides of the panel rails, and secured theretoeither by wire ties 19 or by pins 10 as above described. The ties can bereduced in length or the pin can be set in another of the holes 10 whenit is desired to tighten the wire-the extensions in this case rockingover the corners 18 of the post.

In Fig. 4 the extensions E stand against the opposite sides of the postand rest at their lower ends in sockets 20 carried by the post, and thelatter has cleats 16 secured to its front and rear faces, over whichextend nails H 21 projecting from one side of the extensions.

In this manner the extensions are supported and prevented from slippingthrough the sockets 20; and the wire 11 preferably passes over the nails21 to hold the extensions down, and behind a nail 22 rising from one ofthe cleats 16, whereby the Wire is prevented from slipping off saidcleat. At other times the wire passes between two imvardly-inclinednails 12 driven into the top of the post as best seen in Fig. 1, but ofthis wire more anon.

In Fig. l I have shown one of the extensions E just described, becausethis view illustrates the end of a section of fence, and it will be seenthat the post at the left of the figure is supported by an inclinedbrace-wire 24 extending from one of the nails 12 down to astake 9 drivenin the ground. With this construction of extension, the wire 11 passesacross the post before it is secured to the extension, and hence thetension of the wire draws the extension against the post the same aswould be the case with the device Vents larger stock pushing against orjumping over the fence, braces the same, is easily secured in place androlled for transporting, and is light, cheap, and durable. The lowerwire 11' of Fig. 1 is preferably always used and extends across the topsof the posts when they are of the height shown, being secured betweennails 12 as above described, and this wire I shall call the supportingwire. The other wire or wires 11 are preferably carried by theextensions above described, although as seen in Fig. 10 the post may belong enough to support these wires also. In that case the uppermost orrider-wire passes between the nails 12 as above described, and the otherwires may be secured to the post by stapling or in any suitablemanner-though I prefer onezof the constructions shown in this figurewhen the fence is to be portable, because the wire can be disconnectedfrom the post when either of such is used.

25 is a block preferably secured to one face i of the post by a screw26, the wire passing behind the block and over the screw.

27 is a notch cut in one corner of the post and 28 is a nail rising fromthe lower side of this notch, the wire passing behind the nail andresting in the notch. I prefer the latter construction for mid-lengthhigh posts, and the block construction for the corner or end posts ofthe various sections.

Fig. 11 shows the connecting pin 10 above described which is of woodwith a head 50 at one end and a hole 51 near the other end through whicha nail 52 passes.

In building this fence, after the rigid panels have been setup along theline of fencing, and the posts connected 'by the supporting wire (andthe extensions connected by the wires above if they are used), thesuspended panels are placed in the vacancies caused by spacing the rigidpanels as described. Each suspended panel consists of a number of shortrails 30, a longer lower rail 31, and a twisted wire 32 at each end ofthe panel embracing the several rails and connected with the supportingwire 11' in the manner best seen in Fig. 6. That is to say the wire 32is doubled Continuing the twist downward, loops 38 are formed around theends of the several rails, and at the back of the lower rail 31 the loop38 is drawn longitudinally of the fence behind the post P and tied orlooped as at 39 around the rigid rail 8 at the other side of the postasseen in Fig. 7. This prevents the lower rail 31 from swinging forward,and by being longer than the others in this suspended panel, its ends31' lap the posts and rest against them on their front sides as seen inFig. 1, or lap the supplemental posts P in the same manner as seen inFigs. 2 and 9. In this case (Fig. 9) I have shown these ends 31 securedto the supplemental post by the same nail or pin which secures the rigidrail 8 thereto, and this is a construction I sometimes employ. It maynot be always possible or desirable to have the lower rail 31 longenough to lap over onto the post, and in such case Iprovide a bracket 40which I nail or otherwise secure to the face of the post and whichprojects laterally beyond the same and behind the end of the lower rail31. These brackets may extend to both sides of the post P as seen inFig. 3, to only one side thereof as seen in Fig. 1, orwhen the suspendedpanels are very shortthey may extend for some distance to the sides ofthe post as seen in Fig. 8. In the latter case there will of course beopenings of considerable size left between the ends of the suspendedpanels and the adjacent edges of the posts, and in order to preventstock crawling through these openings I provide upright rails 41 whichare secured to the bracket 40 and to an upper bracket 42 as seen at theright of this figure or which may be connected at their upper ends withthe supporting wire 11' as seen at the left of this figure. Theseupright rails fill the openings at the sides of the posts and alsostrengthen the fence.

To take down this fence, the wires are first removed from the posts andextensions, and this is easy because they are not positively connectedthereto except at the ends of the fence or of its sections, and thewires are rolled upon the end-posts or extensions to which they are thusconnected. Before the supporting wire can be removed the nail 35 of eachtwist-wire must be withdrawn, and this frees the upper end of eachsuspended panel. Its lower end could be connected at 39 with the rigidrail by the same form of connection shown in Fig. 6; but whatever thisconnection is it must be broken in taking down the fence, and thesuspended panels are then free and can be piled on the wagon. The rigidpanels with their posts are next piled on the wagon, and to accomplishthis the posts are lifted off the stones 2, drawn out of the ground asat 1, or disconnected from their bases 3 which latter are also loadedinto the wagon.

In the use of the suspended panels hereinbefore described, it will beseen that each panel serves to build more linear fence than its lengthbecause its ends are not in contact with the posts adjacent. If thespaces between such ends and posts are too large, they are filled up asseen in Fig. 8, but such spaces are not usually of sufficient size tonecessitate this construction.

I am not aware of the existence of a fence which has similar verticalopenings between its rails and supporting posts, and I consider this animportant feature of my invention.

All wooden members of this fence are given a thick coat of paint or oilwhere they come in contact with each other or with the ground, therebypreventing the decay of the wood; and all metal portions of this fenceare preferably either of galvanizediron or painted, to prevent theirrusting.

What is claimed as new is- 1. In a fence, the combination of a pair ofposts having vertical extensions, a supporting wire running from onepost to the other, and another wire connected to said extensions andlocated above the tops of said posts, alooselysuspended panel consistingof parallel bars, and connecting-wires vertically disposed at the endsof the bars, said connecting-wires having their upper ends detachablysecured to the said supporting-wire, substantially as described.

2. In a fence, the combination with a hori zontal supporting wire, andsupports therefor; of a suspended panel comprising bars connected ateach end by an upright twisted wire, the bend at the upper end of saidwire passing over the supporting wire and through its body, and a nailremovably inserted therein.

3. In a fence, the combination with posts, a rigid panel supportedthereby, and a supporting wire carried by the posts, of a suspendedpanel on the side of a post opposite .a rigid panel and consisting ofbars and a twisted wire, the latter being connected at its upper endwith said supporting wire formed into loops embracing the rails andhaving its lower ends extending from the lowermost loop behind the postand connected with the rigid panel, substantially as described.

4. In a fence, the combination with a post, and a horizontal bar securedthereto; of an extension at each side of and rising above the post, saidextension being pivoted to said bar, a wire connected to each extensionand leading away from the post, a loop embracing the extensions, and awedge in each end of the loop outside the extension.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in he presence of two witnesses.

JONATHAN GIBSON ORR.

Witnesses:

H. H. SPARKMAN, L. P. TROUP.

